From Laura Hazard-Owen at paidContent: Random House parent company Bertelsmann and Penguin parent company Pearson announced Thursday that the Department of Justice has approved the proposed merger between Random House and Penguin “without conditions.” The merger, which remains under review by other antitrust authorities including the European Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau, would create […]

Pearson is in talks with Bertelsmann to combine Penguin and Random House, the company confirmed. However, “the two companies have not reached agreement and there is no certainty that the discussions will lead to a transaction,” Pearson said in a statement.

From The Guardian: Pearson has reported a 72% surge in pre-tax profits to £1.15bn for 2011, with ebook sales at Penguin more than doubling and profits at FT Group, home to the Financial Times, up by about a quarter. [Clip] Total revenues across the group, which includes book publisher Penguin and educational holdings, grew 4% […]

From a Wired Campus Report by Josh Fischman: Today Pearson, the publishing and learning technology group, has joined the software giant Google to launch OpenClass, a free LMS that combines standard course-management tools with advanced social networking and community-building, and an open architecture that allows instructors to import whatever material they want, from e-books to […]